Bartamaha (Mogadishu):- Somalia’s al-Shabab group has imposed a ban on three aid organizations, claiming they are “actively propagating Western ideology” in the Horn of Africa country.
“Starting today (Wednesday), the aid groups Mercy Corps, Med-Air and Horn Relief will not serve inside the country. I am urging the other NGOs who have contract with American government to stop or else we will take action against them,” Radio Garowe quoted al-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dhere, as saying at a press conference in the country’s capital, Mogadishu.
In August, al-Shabab group ordered three international aid groups — World Vision, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and Diakonia — to cease their operations in Somalia since they were allegedly proselytizing when distributing aid.
Relief agencies serving Somalia say aid to millions of Somalis is hampered by the danger that aid workers are faced with and a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by the parties to the conflict.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people in Somalia, including 300,000 in Mogadishu.
Most of the displaced live in poor conditions in makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
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Source:- Press TV.
